


Dare Over Truth

by Sotheylived



Series: Follower Appreciation [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7030657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sotheylived/pseuds/Sotheylived
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt via tumblr from startswithhope who asked for a tattoo artist au with truth or dare. In which Killian never says no to a dare until the one time he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dare Over Truth

Killian Jones never said no to a dare in the entire time that Emma had known him. In fact, they’d met because of his inability to refuse a dare. 

Emma had been  cleaning up after her last tattoo for the night when the bell over the door to her shop chimed and a hoard of drunk people staggered in. She cursed herself for not turning the sign to closed a half hour ago as she made her way towards the group. 

“I’m closing up,” she said, eyeing the group warily, hoping they wouldn’t cause her trouble.

“I want a tattoo,” one of the men said, stepping forward away from the others. “I’ve got to get one - or I’ll lose.”

“What?” Emma asked. 

“It’s a dare,” a dark haired woman who was clearly far less drunk than the rest of them said with a mischievous smirk .

The man smiled at Emma a bit sheepishly and rubbed behind his ear.

His hair was dark and artfully disheveled, black kohl lined his eyes and his gaze was focused on her intensely. Emma had to remind herself that she’d sworn off men after her last disastrous relationship. But no matter how good looking the guy was, she wasn’t about to tattoo a man so drunk he swayed slightly while standing in place.

“Sorry,” Emma had said as she ushered the group out the door, “I don’t tattoo anyone who’s drunk.”

At the time Emma had figured that would be the end of it, but Killian had shown up the next day, alone and completely sober to make good on his dare. He’d come in again three more times to get various small designs and Emma had to wonder just how often he and his friends got tattoos for dares. It was as she was finishing up his last tattoo that he’d invited her to join the group’s Friday adventures - which for the most part consisted of surprisingly intense games of truth or dare - and for some crazy reason Emma found herself agreeing to go.

That was almost two years ago, and by now Emma was as much of a staple at the truth or dare nights as anyone else. They made up their own rules; if after hearing the question or dare someone didn’t want to do it they had the option to drink instead. Sometimes the ease with which she’d integrated herself into the group surprised even herself. After spending so much of her life avoiding putting down roots, she felt grounded in the small town, and happy with her friends in it - which of course scared the shit out of her if she thought about it, so she made it a point to not think about it.  

Most of the time Emma had to work late at the tattoo parlor and she often found herself walking in midway through the game. It wasn’t unheard of - or even that unusual for her to walk in on a pair making out, someone eating a disgusting concoction, or spilling their deepest secrets - which is why Emma _always_ chose dare. It’s not that she didn’t like their little ragtag group, it was just that a lifetime’s worth of keeping her secrets buried was hard to break.

Killian was the only other person who always chose dare. Though come to think of it, when Emma had started coming, Killian chose truth sometimes, granted not as often as dare, but he still chose it.  Slowly, so gradually she hadn’t even noticed, he’d chosen it less and less often. It wasn’t until Emma walked in a little earlier than usual - her client had cancelled the moment he took a look at the needle - and Killian was in the middle of admitting that he spent over an hour styling himself in the morning that she realized he never picked truth.

“Since when do you pick truth, Jones?” Emma asked as she entered the apartment, without bothering to knock. 

They normally played at David and Mary Margaret’s place, but since they were getting ready for the baby it seemed more practical to play at Killian and Will’s - especially since Mary Margaret had started her nesting phase. Their apartment was small, but remarkably well kept considering Will lived there. 

“You’re one to talk,” Killian said, as she walked past them and into the kitchen. 

Emma wondered if the fact that she knew, as she ducked down into the fridge that she’d find nothing other than beer, a half empty bottle of hot sauce, and a jar of mayonnaise inside was a sign that she spent too much time at their place.

Emma grabbed a beer and popped off the cap before she headed back into the living room. She plopped down on the couch between Killian and Ruby, old leather creaking in protest as she did.

“Killian picks truth every once in a while,” David said once Emma sat down. His gaze flitted between Emma and Killian, a thoughtful look flitting across his face.  

“Unlike _some_ people,” Ruby added under her breath.

Emma knocked her shoulder into Ruby good naturedly. Killian plucked the beer out of her hand and stole a sip - even though he had his own perfectly good beer on the coffee table in front of them. Emma glared at him and stole her beer back. He ignored her look and tilted back, shifting so his arm rested on the back of the couch behind her. 

“Emma,” he said after a moment, “truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Emma said, with a smug smirk at Ruby. The instant the word left her she began to panic - of course she could always choose to drink instead of answer, but sometimes the refusal to speak was more telling than answering. There was a low murmur of surprise that rippled through the group and Emma had to choke back the urge to take it back.

Emma was fairly certain that she looked like a deer in the headlights as she turned towards Killian. His gaze was already on her and he smiled reassuringly when he noticed the panic on her face. “Why were you really late to Mary Margaret’s baby shower last month?” he asked.

Emma nearly let out a sigh of relief that the question was nothing big and judging by Will’s groan, the fact that Killian had gone easy on her wasn’t lost on him.

“So maybe I wasn’t wrapping Mary Margaret’s gift but hungover,” Emma said with a sheepish smile at Mary Margaret, who just laughed in return.

Will scoffed, “come on Killian - you get her first truth ever and you choose _that_?”

Emma made a mental note to never pick truth when it was Will asking her. “Will?” She asked, challenge thick in her voice.

“Dare of course,” he answered with a hearty swig of his drink.

Emma was never much good at coming up with creative dares and ended up making him drink the rest of the bottle of hot sauce that had been in their fridge since she’d met them. He only drank about half of it before he conceded defeat and gagged, spitting it out into the sink. He had to chug the rest of his beer since he didn’t finish the dare, and once he was done he chose Killian. 

Emma noticed Killian’s gaze flick to her out of the corner of her eye before he chose dare. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was a reason he never picked truth when she was around.

After a moment of thought Will smirked. “I dare you to kiss Emma,” he said. 

Emma’s stomach swooped. She chose to ignore the feeling, opting to take a gulp of her drink instead. She turned to face him, knowing he never refused a dare. She felt a thrill at the thought of kissing him and quickly pushed it out of her mind. He met her gaze for a long moment. Emma shifted a bit in her seat.

“Well Jones?” she said finally, with a quirked brow. 

A small sad smile flicked across his face before he raised his glass. “Drink,” he said, chugging his remaining beer to opt out of the dare.

That wasn’t disappointment Emma felt settle in her gut when he set his empty beer down onto the table - nope, it was relief - definitely relief. The rest of the group sat in shocked silence for a moment before David finally spoke. 

“That’s the first time you’ve refused a dare since that time in college when - ”

“Well,“ Killian said quickly, cutting David off, "there’s a first time for everything.” David looked like he was about to interrupt, but Killian spoke over him, “I dare you to go streak out in front of the mayors house.”

“You didn’t even let him choose,” Ruby protested, but David was already getting up.

Mary Margaret gasped. “That’s illegal!”

David smiled, “Well then it’s a good thing I’m sheriff.”

“Yes! Field trip,” Will said, somehow managing to stash a beer into each pocket.

Two hours, eighteen collective beers, six dares and three truths later, Mary Margaret and David left. Mary Margaret offered to drive Emma and Ruby home too, but they’d declined, deciding to crash on Killian and Will’s couch instead - too tired to work up the effort to leave. Killian offered to take the couch, Will offered to share his bed, but Emma and Ruby declined as they always did. Which was how Emma found herself squished up next to Ruby on the pullout, wide awake long after they’d all gone to bed.

“You know,” Ruby said, far too loudly into the quiet apartment. Emma and Ruby held their breath for a moment, listening for the telltale groan of Will’s door or the squeak of the floorboard outside Killian’s room. Once they were sure the guys were still asleep, Emma turned back to face Ruby. “You know,” Ruby said again in a whisper, hot breath fanning across Emma’s face, “we dared Killian to get one tattoo.”

Emma had to bite back a laugh, this is the late night whispered conversation Ruby wanted to have? “Yeah of course I know,” Emma said, “that’s how we met, remember?”

Ruby’s eyes glinted in the low light from the glow of the clock above the stove. She leaned a bit closer, “we dare him to get _one_ tattoo,” she repeated.

She smirked briefly, and mumbled a goodnight before rolling over so her back was to Emma. After a few minutes Emma hear Ruby’s soft snores, but she was more awake than ever. Killian was not a tattoo sort of person, each time he came into the shop he was an even bigger baby about the needle, and Emma had just assumed that he put up with that torture for the sake of the dares. She couldn’t help but wonder why he would put up with something he so obviously hated if it weren’t for a dare. Emma shook her head to clear her thoughts, and rolled over to fall asleep.

The following three Fridays were spent in much the same fashion. The only thing was that ever since Killian refused to do the dare, he’d refused at least one dare a week since. The first Friday he’d refused Mary Margaret’s seemingly benign dare to write a note to each person in the room saying what he liked best about them. He’d claimed it was too much work, the man who had literally gone and spent $150 on a tattoo thought writing a note was too much work. He refused to play seven minutes in heaven the following week, and ended up being the only one to sit it out. Will had dared Emma to kiss Killian the next week and he’d leapt up from his chair, downing his own drink on her behalf before she could so much as move, and Emma couldn’t help but feel offended. It’s not that she wanted to kiss him or anything -  but she was starting to feel like it might be personal.

Nearly a month after the first time he’d refused the dare to kiss her, Tink came to one of their game nights. She normally missed out because she worked nights, and could only occasionally come, so Emma didn’t know her quite as well as the others.

Later on in the night, after a few stupid dares and a few not so dumb ones, Ruby dared Killian to kiss Tink. Emma knew he would refuse, since he clearly just didn’t like to be dared to do anything romantic and it had nothing to do with Emma personally. At least that’s what she thought until he stood up, crossed the room and after a questioning smile at Tink, laid one on her. Even though there were wolf whistles and cat calls going around the room, Emma could hear nothing save the buzzing in her own ears. She stood abruptly and walked into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, drinks of the night finally catching up to her.

Killian must have pulled away from sucking face with Tink long enough to notice she was missing because he appeared in the kitchen behind her a moment later. “You alright there Swan,” he asked.

“Fine,” Emma said, and winced at the bite in her voice because she had no reason to be pissed, why the hell was she so pissed at him. “Let’s go back in there Jones, it’s your turn.”

Emma left only a little while later that night, claiming she had a headache - which wasn’t exactly untrue. The following game night wasn’t too different from usual, notable events included Will eating an unidentifiable substance from beneath his bed, and Mary Margaret divulging the baby’s gender - a boy. Emma was just thinking about calling it a night because she was honestly having trouble keeping her eyes open when Killian picked truth for Ruby - probably sick of being dared to kiss Emma who clearly must’ve repulsed him - and god why did she care so much.

“Why were you willing to kiss Tink for a dare but not Emma?”

Emma’s head snapped up to look at Ruby, whose face was unreadable. Killian went to reach for his drink and there was a collective moan from the group before Ruby snatched it up in front of him - “uh uh,” she said, “nope you’re not allowed." 

"Come on Ruby,” Killian said, keeping his gaze very far away from Emma, “I can drink instead of answer if I want to - it’s in the rules." 

"Let him drink Ruby,” Emma said, standing, she could feel everyone’s eyes in the group burning into her. “I need some air,” she mumbled before climbing over David’s outstretched legs and stepping out of the apartment onto the balcony. 

Killian’s balcony was one of her favorite places in the town, there was barely any light pollution and on a clear night there were a million stars. And on a particularly quiet night she could hear the waves crashing to shore. The place brought her no peace at the moment, she was far too consumed with her own thoughts to enjoy the beauty around her. The door creaked open behind her and Emma ignored it, keeping her gaze steady on the horizon.

“Do you want to hear my answer Emma?”

Emma turned to look at him, unsure if she wanted to hear it or not. He fidgeted beneath her gaze, ducking his head to brush a hand behind his ear and she found herself nodding.

“I wouldn’t do dares involving kissing you because - well because I don’t want us to kiss because of some stupid dare because we’re forced to.” Killian paused, huffing a forceful breath, “I want to kiss you because you want me to. I want - I do want to kiss you, love.”

“Truth or dare?”

“What?” Killian asked, looking up at her in confusion.

“Truth or dare,” Emma repeated before she lost her nerve.

“Dare,” Killian answered as though it were a question.

“I dare you to kiss me.”

In the instant it took for Killian to understand, Emma felt a ball of panic well in her chest, but then he smiled. 

Killian hesitated for a moment before his lips were on hers and he kissed her with everything he had. Her toes were half frozen, her hip would likely bruise from the angle she was pressed up against the railing, drops of rain began to fall from the inky black sky, and their friends were surely watching from the window - but for once in her life, Emma couldn’t seem to find it in herself to care.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of my follower appreciation prompts on tumblr.


End file.
